Val Michelson papers

Val Michelson was born in St. Petersburg, Russia on March 22, 1916. He studied architecture at the National Academy of Fine Arts in Leningrad from 1935 to 1941. He was an engineer in the Soviet army from 1941 until captured by the Germans in 1942. Because of his training and knowledge of the German language, he was put to work as an interpreter and in construction, planning sewage systems and converting buildings to use as field hospitals and other facilities. After the war, Michelson worked in a displaced persons camp where he met his wife, Helgi. From 1946 to 1948, he attended the Technische Hochschule in Karlsruhe, Germany, and helped set up temporary schools where refugees could continue their education until permanent ones were reopened.

The Michelsons immigrated to the United States in 1949, settling near Ithaca, NY. For a time, Michelson worked as a waiter during the day and in an architectural firm in the evening. He attended Columbia University in 1951-1952, earning an MS in architecture. From 1951 to 1953, he practiced in the office of Percival Goodman in New York City as a designer and job captain, collaborating on the design of the Temple of Aaron, St. Paul, MN. From 1953 to 1960, Michelson was affiliated with Marcel Breuer of New York. He came to Collegeville, Minnesota to be designer, project supervisor, and resident architect on Breuer's St. John's Abbey Church project. Upon its completion in 1961, he moved to St. Paul and formed a partnership with Edward Hanson. From 1963 until his retirement in 1990, he maintained his own firm, Val Michelson & Associates. He also taught classes in the University of Minnesota's School of Architecture from 1963 until his retirement in 1985.